Jennifer Hudson Will Not Save ‘Smash’

The high hopes for the new season of the NBC musical drama burned out this morning after the second season premiere’s abysmally low ratings.

By Emmet Sullivan

Published Feb. 6, 2013

Looks like Jennifer Hudson will have to find another way to get to EGOT.

Last night, NBC’s Smash returned to the airwaves after dumping showrunner Theresa Rebeck in favor of Joshua Safran (Gossip Girl) and promising a retooled series after the first season went from critically hyped to universally panned (Buzzfeed has a great rundown of everything that went wrong with the show, if you want to know all the gory details).

Bold idea to get more star power on this show. But the mentor relationship (and inevitable duet between the two) spotlights the show’s biggest flaw: McPhee. As EW’s Ken Tucker writes, “McPhee and Hudson, by contrast, represent the weakest and strongest skills of American Idol graduates respectively.” Karen was already a weak character who paled in comparison, both vocally and character-wise, to her rival Ivy (Megan Hilty), but bringing in Hudson just leaves the viewer wondering why McPhee is still on this show at all.

What’s more, NBC gave Hudson nothing to do but sing. She only appeared in the first half of the slog of a two-hour premiere and had barely any lines at that. Hopefully Safran will give her more in future episodes.

Smash is still one of NBC’s darlings, and it will certainly live to see another week. And yet, if the show is going to get any kind of audience on Tuesday nights, it needs to do more than have Jennifer Hudson sing. Getting rid of Debra Messing’s scarves was a good start.